Split Fiction Complete Walkthrough: All 8 Chapters, Tips & Secrets

The Big Picture

Split Fiction has 8 chapters spread across 15-20 hours. The sci-fi chapters come from Mio's imagination, the fantasy chapters from Zoe's. They alternate , sci-fi, fantasy, sci-fi, fantasy , with the final two chapters blending both worlds in ways I won't spoil here.

I finished my first playthrough in 17 hours with about half the Side Stories done. My second run, hunting every collectible and Side Story, took 22 hours. If you're a completionist, budget a full weekend.

Chapter 1: The Simulation (Sci-Fi)

The game opens with Mio and Zoe waking up on a train headed to a tech company called Rader Publishing. They're both there to pitch thier novels. Instead, they're tricked into a machine that extracts creative ideas and converts them into virtual worlds.

The tutorial portion teaches movement, interaction, and basic co-op puzzles. Key moments: the gravity-flip hallway, the security drone chase, and the Chapter 1 boss (Corrupted Overseer). Collect the hidden terminal logs , there are four of them in Chapter 1 and they explain the company's true motives.

Chapter 2: The Enchanted Vale (Fantasy)

Zoe's world introduces double-jumping, gliding, and creature mounting. You'll ride a winged beast through a canyon and use magical platforms that appear and disappear based on proximity.

The rotating tower puzzle is the chapter's centerpiece. One player controls the tower's orientation. the other climbs through its interior. After the puzzle, you fight the Thorn Colossus , a boss that covers the arena in vines you need to burn with magical fire while your partner distracts it.

Side Story portal location: behind the waterfall near the chapter's starting area. The Side Story here is called "The Great Escape" and it's absurd in the best way.

Chapter 3: Neon Depths (Sci-Fi)

Back to Mio's world. This chapter takes place in an underwater research facility, so movement is floatier and slower. You get a hacking tool that lets one player disable security systems while the other advances.

The standout section is a stealth sequence where one player monitors camera feeds from a security room while the other navigates the corridors. The monitor player needs to call out guard patrols in real time. It's tense and one of the most creative uses of asymmetric co-op in the whole game.

Boss: The Deep Sentinel, a mechanical kraken that attacks from multiple angles. But both players need to target separate tentacles simultaneously , if you're out of sync, the tentacles regenerate.

Chapter 4: The Sky Kingdom (Fantasy)

This is where the difficulty curve starts climbing. The Sky Kingdom introduces wind currents that affect your movement , jump into an updraft and you'll soar. get caught in a downdraft and you're dead.

The gryphon-riding sequence at the chapter's midpoint is a visual highlight. One player steers while the other fires at pursuers. If the shooter misses too many shots, the gryphon takes damage and you restart the sequence. Take turns at each role because both are demanding in different ways.

Boss: Storm Sovereign, an aerial fight where one player rides a gryphon and the other fights on floating platforms. Coordination is everything , the ground player needs to knock the boss into the air, and the mounted player needs to dive-bomb it.

Chapter 5: The Machine Core (Sci-Fi)

The halfway point and the hardest chapter for most players. The Machine Core is a labyrinth of conveyor belts, crushers, and timed force fields. One wrong step and both players restart.

This is where the co-op death rule becomes genuinely punishing. The timing puzzles in the second half of the chapter require frame-precise coordination. If you've been coasting on "I'll just follow your lead," this chapter will expose that.

Boss: The Fabricator Prime. It creates copies of itself, and you need to identify the real one by tracking environmental tells , flickering lights, different sound cues. Kill a copy and it explodes, damaging both players if you're too close.

Chapter 6: The Forgotten Woods (Fantasy)

A quieter chapter after the chaos of Chapter 5. The Forgotten Woods are atmospheric , bioluminescent plants, melancholic music, fewer enemies. This chapter focuses on narrative and character development between Mio and Zoe.

The puzzles involve manipulating light and shadow. One player carries a lantern that dispels darkness in a small radius. the other navigates the darkened areas using the lantern's glow as a guide. It's less reflex-intensive and more about patience.

Side Story portal: inside the giant hollow tree near the chapter's midpoint. This Side Story ("The Painter") is genuinely moving and ties directly into Zoe's backstory.

Chapter 7: The Final Frontier (Sci-Fi)

The penultimate chapter. You're aboard a derelict spaceship drifting toward a black hole. Time distortion effects mean that actions taken by one player sometimes take seconds to reach the other player's reality. It's disorienting and brilliant.

The zero-gravity sections let both players move freely in 3D space. This is where the camera can become your worst enemy , if you're not constantly communicating about your position, you'll lose track of each other.

Boss: The Event Horizon, a reality-warping entity that teleports the arena mid-fight. You'll swap between sci-fi and fantasy versions of the same room.

Chapter 8: The Escape (Both Worlds)

The finale merges Mio and Zoe's worlds into a single reality. Everything you've learned gets tested , gravity-flipping, creature-riding, hacking, light manipulation, and zero-G navigation all appear in rapid succession.

The final sequence requires both players to perform a synchronized platforming run while the world dissolves behind you. It's not the hardest, probably section mechanically, but the pressure makes people panic and mistime jumps.

Final boss: The Machine, the physical manifestation of the creativity-extraction device. Both players need to attack its weak points in sequence, and the pattern changes each phase. If you've been paying attention to the story, the ending hits hard.

After the credits, you unlock Chapter Select, which lets you revisit any level to grab missed collectibles or Side Stories. Progress carries over, no need to replay the whole game.

I'm sure there's more I forgot to mention. You play long enough and things start blending together, you know?